JPH0843089A - Inclination sensitive sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an inclination sensor for sensing the movement of a bubble according to the direction of an inclination and detecting the inclination. CONSTITUTION: This sensor has a sealed vessel 11 supported in such manner as to be capable of inclining, a conductive liquid 11 filled in the sealed vessel 1 so as to move a bubble according to the inclination of the sealed vessel 1, an electrode 12 for supplying a current to the conductive liquid 11, and an electric terminal 14 set within the sealed vessel 1 and having a conductive part for detecting the current supplied through the conductive liquid. A bubble 10 moves according to the inclination of the sealed vessel 1, and to the inclination of the sealed vessel 1 is detected according to whether or not the bubble 10 makes contact with the conductive part on the tip of the electric terminal 14, and according to whether or not the current applied from the electrode 12 to the conductive plate 11 is detectable.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inclination sensor for detecting inclination of a road or the like, and more particularly, an inclination sensor for detecting movement of water bubbles according to an inclination direction and outputting a predetermined detection signal. It is about sensors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, it is desired to detect the inclination of a road while the vehicle is traveling and to control the traveling of the vehicle according to the inclination. Even in ships such as submarines, ordinary ships, and other ships, it is necessary to accurately detect the inclination for safe operation of the ship. Similarly, for a stable flight of the plane, it is necessary to detect the degree of inclination of the plane. As described above, accurate detection of the inclination is desired in various fields.

[0003]

However, the conventional inclination detecting sensor is merely a device for making the user recognize the direction of the inclination, and its sensitivity is very low. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult to detect the inclination accurately. In addition, although a tilt sensor configured to output a signal according to the direction of tilt is also known, if the tilt sensor is not provided with a circuit for converting a physical characteristic into an electrical signal. However, there is a problem that the tilt sensor becomes complicated.

The present invention was devised in consideration of the above circumstances, and the present invention is sensitive to a change in the position of a bubble depending on the direction of inclination, that is, a sensitive physical characteristic depending on the degree of inclination. It is an object of the present invention to realize a tilt sensor that can directly output a high electric signal.

[0005]

An inclination sensor according to the present invention that achieves the above object comprises a hermetically-sealed container arranged so as to be capable of tilting, a bubble is formed in the hermetically-sealed container, and the foam is tilted. A conductive liquid that is filled so as to be movable along the upper inner wall of the closed container according to, an electrode that supplies an electric current to the conductive liquid in the closed container, and is provided in the closed container. And a plurality of electric terminals. Each of the plurality of electric terminals is provided at a side wall position of the closed container that is defined depending on the tilt detection capability, and has a conductive portion that comes into contact with or is not in contact with a bubble that moves according to the tilt of the closed container. Have

In the tilt detecting sensor of the present invention, the closed container is tilted according to the tilt, and bubbles move over the closed container according to the tilt. Depending on the movement of the bubbles, a conductive state of the electric circuit formed by the electrode, the conductive liquid, and the conductive portion of the electric terminal, or a non-conducting state of the conductive portion of the electric terminal and the electrode in contact with the bubble occurs. . Therefore, the inclination of the closed container is detected by detecting these states.

Specifically, the closed container has a rectangular parallelepiped shape in which the bubbles can move along an upper inner wall in the longitudinal direction, and the closed container is arranged so as to be tiltable in the longitudinal direction. The terminals are installed along the longitudinal direction of the closed container. Thereby, the inclination in a certain direction can be detected with a simple structure.

More specifically, the plurality of electric terminals are two.
2 when the closed container is in a horizontal state.
The conductive parts of two electrical terminals simultaneously contact the foam,
The two electric terminals are installed at positions where any one of the conductive portions of the electric terminal comes into contact with the bubbles when the closed container is inclined. With this, with a simple structure,
Horizontal, tilt to the right, tilt to the left can be detected.

[0008] Specifically, the plurality of electric terminals are installed so that the bubbles moving with the inclination of the closed container come into contact with any one of the conductive portions of the plurality of electric terminals. Thereby, the degree of inclination in a certain direction can be detected.

[0009] More specifically, the closed container has a hemispherical shape at the top, and the conductive portions of the plurality of electric terminals are in contact with the bubbles moving on the inner wall of the hemispherical shape. The plurality of electrical terminals are arranged in a plane shape at substantially equal intervals, separated from the hemispherical inner wall by an interval. Thereby, a two-dimensional inclination can be detected.

The closed container has a spherical top, and is separated from the spherical inner wall by a predetermined distance such that the conductive portions of the plurality of electric terminals come into contact with the bubbles moving on the spherical inner wall. The plurality of electric terminals are installed along the inner peripheral side wall surface of the closed container. This allows
Two-dimensional tilt can be detected.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First Embodiment FIGS. 1 (A) to 1 (C) are views showing a sectional configuration of a tilt sensor according to a first embodiment of the present invention and its operating state, and FIGS. 2 (A) and 2 (B) show the first embodiment. It is sectional drawing and the top view which show the outline of the inclination detection sensor of an Example. The tilt sensor according to the first embodiment is a tilt sensor that detects a horizontal state, a right tilt, and a left tilt.

Reference numeral 1 in FIG. 1A is a closed container having a rectangular cross section filled with a liquid-state conductive substance (conductive liquid) 11 together with bubbles 10 of a predetermined size. Reference numeral 11 is a conductive liquid for forming an electric current path, and reference numeral 12 is a conductive substance in this liquid state, which is a bubble formed so that its position is changed according to the inclination direction of the closed container 1. Reference numeral 14 is an electrode for supplying a current to the (conducting liquid) 11, and is sealed based on a current applied to the electrode 12 through a current passage formed by the conducting liquid 11 according to the inclination direction of the closed container 1. It is two electric terminals for detecting the inclination of the container 1. The closed container 1 is arranged so as to be tiltable in the longitudinal direction by a mechanism (not shown), and has the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped in which bubbles can move along the upper inner wall in the longitudinal direction.

The above-mentioned two electric terminals 14 are entirely surrounded by an insulating coating 13 except for a predetermined portion of one end thereof which faces the bubble 10 and are insulated from the conductive liquid 11.
Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 1 (A), the closed container 1
Is in a horizontal state, the insulation coating 1 of the two electrical terminals 14
When the tip exposed from 3 faces the bubble 10, the bubble 1
Since 0 is an insulating medium, there is an insulating state between the two electric terminals 14. On the other hand, as illustrated in FIG. 1 (B) or FIG. 1 (C), if the closed container 1 is inclined, even if one of the two electric terminals 14 forms a current passage, the conductive liquid is formed. When the portion of the tip exposed from the insulating coating 13 is immersed in 11, the tip of one of the electric terminals 14 immersed in the conductive liquid 11 is electrically connected to the electrode 12 through the conductive liquid 11, The current applied through 12 is output to the outside through an output port 15. In other words, the tilt sensor of the first embodiment includes the closed container 1, the conductive liquid 11 contained in the closed container 1, the foam 10, the electric terminal 14, and the insulating coating for insulating the electric terminal 14 from the conductive liquid 11. 13, an electrode 12 for applying a current for tilt detection, an output port 15 for extracting a detection signal
Have.

The operation of the tilt sensor according to the first embodiment of the present invention having the above construction will be described below. 1 (B) and 1 (C) show bubbles 1 in the tilt sensor according to the tilt direction.
1B is a drawing showing the position of 0, and FIG. 1B shows the position of the bubble 10 when the closed container 1 is tilted to the left end.
FIG. 1C is a diagram showing the position of the bubble 10 when the closed container 1 is tilted to the right end, which is the opposite of FIG. 1B.

When the closed container 1 tilts, the filled conductive liquid 11 flows so as to keep the tilt sensing sensor in equilibrium. As a result, the bubbles 10 move on the inner wall of the upper portion of the closed container 1. First, as shown in FIG. 1B, when the left end of the closed container 1 is lower than a predetermined standard height from the right end, that is, when the right side of the closed container 1 is higher than the left side,
In (A), the bubble 10 located in the center of the upper part of the closed container 1 moves to the upper right corner of the closed container 1. as a result,
An electric circuit that connects the electrode 12, the conductive liquid 11 and the tip of the left electric terminal 14 is formed, and the power supply current applied through the electrode 12 flows to the tip of the left electric terminal 14 via the conductive liquid 11, The current applied to the electrode 12 can be detected via the output port 15 connected to the electric terminal 14. In this case, by detecting an electric signal from the output port 15 connected to the electric terminal 14 on the left side, the closed container 1
It can be seen that is inclined to the upper right.

Then, when the tilt sensor, that is, the closed container 1 is placed in a horizontal state, the bubble 10 in the closed container 1 comes to be located at the center of the upper portion as shown in FIG. 1 (A). The exposed tip portions of the left and right electric terminals 14 are electrically isolated from the conductive liquid 11 by the bubble 10 as an insulating medium, so that the current signal output from the left and right electric terminals 14 becomes zero. That is, when the electric current is not detected from any of the electric terminals 14, it indicates that the closed container 1 is in the horizontal state.

As shown in FIG. 1C, the closed container 1
The operation of the tilt sensor when the left end of the bubble is higher than the predetermined standard height than the right end is
Since 0 moves to the upper left corner of the upper portion of the closed container 1, the electric terminal 14 on the right side is immersed in the conductive liquid 11, and the operation is the reverse of the case illustrated in FIG. That is, the electrode 12 and the conductive liquid 1
1. An electric circuit is formed in the path of the tip of the right electric terminal 14, and the current applied to the electrode 12 is detected from the output port 15 connected to the right electric terminal 14.

As described above, according to the first embodiment,
Since the bubble 10 moves on the upper portion of the closed container 1 in accordance with the inclination detection sensor, that is, the inclination direction of the closed container 1, when the exposed tip of the electric terminal 14 comes into contact with the conductive liquid 11, it is connected via the conductive liquid 11. If the electric current is detected from the electric terminal 14 that is present, or if the foam 10 is in the center of the upper part of the closed container 1 and none of the electric terminals 14 faces the foam 10 and is not in contact with the conductive liquid 11, then any electric No current is detected from the terminal 14. In this way, when the output of the output port 15 connected to the electric terminal 14 is detected, the closed container 1,
That is, the tilt direction of the tilt sensor can be accurately known.

Other Embodiments FIGS. 3A, 3B to 4A, 4B, 5 to 6
Another embodiment is shown in FIG. 2 (A) and 2 (B) are shown in FIG. 1 (A)-(B) for comparison with the embodiment illustrated in FIG.
3 is a schematic illustration of the tilt sensor illustrated in (C).

Second Embodiment FIGS. 3 (A) and 3 (B) are a sectional view and a plan view showing the outline of an inclination detecting sensor of the second embodiment. The inclination detecting sensor of the second embodiment has two electric terminals 1 in the first embodiment.
4, the number of electric terminals 24 is increased to 10 and the closed container 1A in which the longitudinal direction of the rectangular parallelepiped closed container 1 of the first embodiment is lengthened is used to improve the detection ability of the tilt direction and the tilt degree. Is. The closed container 1A is, as in the closed container 1 of the first embodiment, tiltable in the longitudinal direction and maintained by a mechanism (not shown). In the inclination sensor of the second embodiment, the number of electric terminals 24 facing the bubble 10 is set to be one in accordance with the movement of the bubble 10. When the closed container 1A is in the horizontal state, the bubbles 10
Is located at the center of the upper part of the closed container 1A, so that the electrical connection of the central electric terminal 24 is lost. That is, in the second embodiment, the electric terminal 2 in which the current applied to the electrode 12 is not detected
The inclination of the closed container 1A can be seen according to the position of 4.

Third Embodiment FIGS. 4 (A) and 4 (B) are a sectional view and a plan view showing the outline of an inclination detecting sensor of a third embodiment. The tilt sensor of the third embodiment is a tilt sensor that detects a two-dimensional tilt. In the inclination detecting sensor of the third embodiment, the upper part of the closed container 1B is formed in a hemispherical shape, and a plurality of electric terminals 34 are arranged radially along the upper curved surface of the closed container 1B. . The closed container 1B is held by a mechanism (not shown) so that it can be tilted freely in two dimensions. The bubbles 10 move along the upper curved surface of the closed container 1B according to the two-dimensional inclination of the closed container 1B. The electrical terminal 34 facing the bubble 10 is electrically isolated from the electrode 12. Therefore, according to the third embodiment, by detecting the electrically isolated electrical terminal 34, the closed container 1
B, that is, the inclination of the position corresponding to the plane coordinates of the inclination detection sensor can be detected.

When the electric terminal is installed in the closed container, it is not necessary to install the electric terminal in a rod shape so as to project from the bottom surface to the top of the closed container 1 as in the first to third embodiments. Without the bubbles 10 as illustrated in FIGS.
Can be provided so as to project on the upper surface of the closed container.

Fourth Embodiment FIG. 5 shows an electric terminal 44 according to a fourth embodiment with a closed container 1
The cross section of the inclination detection sensor provided on the upper surface of C is shown. This tilt sensor is a modification of the second embodiment. In the fourth embodiment, the installation position of the electric terminal 34, which is surrounded by the bubbles 10 and cannot detect the current from the electrode 12, is the tilt of the tilt sensor. It shows the degree.

Fifth Embodiment FIG. 6 is a partial plan view of a tilt sensor as a fifth embodiment. This tilt sensor is a modification of the tilt sensor illustrated in FIG. 5, in which the closed container 1C of FIG. 5 is a spherical closed container 1D, and the electric terminals 54 are installed along the inner peripheral surface of the container 1D. It is a sensor. The tilt detection sensor illustrated in FIG. 6 has a structure as shown in FIG.
A two-dimensional tilt can be detected in the same manner as the tilt sensor illustrated in FIG.

As the conductive liquid 11, any medium such as a conductive aqueous solution can be used as long as it can move the bubbles 10 quickly and smoothly according to the inclination of the closed container.
In the above-described embodiment, the conductivity of the electrode 12 and the electric terminal 14 may be detected, so that the conductive liquid 11 may be conductive. The closed container 1 has an electrode 12,
It is electrically insulated from the electric terminal 14 and the like.

The installation position of the electrode 12 is as shown in FIGS.
The electrode 12 can be installed not only in the illustrated position but also in any position that is in constant contact with the conductive liquid 11.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a tilt detection sensor having a simple structure and capable of outputting a detection signal having high sensitivity through a change in the position of bubbles according to the direction of tilt. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a tilt detecting sensor according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 (A) is a view showing a case where the tilt detecting sensor is in a horizontal state, and FIG. 1 (B) is a tilt. FIG. 1C is a diagram showing an operation state when the detection sensor is inclined to the left side, and FIG. 1C is a diagram showing an operation when the inclination detection sensor is inclined to the right side.

2 (A) and 2 (B) are a sectional view and a plan view of the inclination detection sensor of the first embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 (A) to 1 (C).

3A and 3B are a cross-sectional view and a plan view of a tilt sensor according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are a sectional view and a plan view of a tilt sensor according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a tilt sensor according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a tilt sensor according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 1A, 1B, 1C Airtight container 10 Foam 11 Conductive liquid 12 Electrode 13 Insulation coating 14, 24, 34, 44, 54 Electrical terminal 15 Output port

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An inclinable closed container, wherein bubbles are formed in the closed container so that the bubbles can move along an upper inner wall of the closed container in accordance with the inclination of the closed container. A filled conductive liquid, an electrode for supplying an electric current to the conductive liquid in the closed container, and a plurality of electric terminals provided in the closed container, each of the plurality of electric terminals Is provided at a side wall position of the closed container which is defined depending on the inclination detection ability, and has a conductive portion which comes into contact with or does not contact a bubble that moves according to the inclination of the closed container. The conductive state of the electric circuit formed by the electrode, the conductive liquid, the conductive portion of the electric terminal, or the non-energized state of the conductive portion of the electric terminal and the electrode in contact with the bubbles, Detects the inclination of the closed container Oblique sensing sensor. 2. The closed container has a rectangular parallelepiped shape in which the bubbles can move along an upper inner wall in the longitudinal direction, the closed container is arranged to be tiltable in the longitudinal direction, and the plurality of electric terminals are The inclination detection sensor according to claim 1, wherein the inclination detection sensor is installed along a longitudinal direction of the closed container. 3. The plurality of electric terminals are two, the conductive portions of the two electric terminals are simultaneously in contact with the foam when the closed container is in a horizontal state, and the closed container is inclined when the closed container is inclined. The tilt detection sensor according to claim 2, wherein the two electric terminals are installed at positions where one of the conductive portions of the electric terminals comes into contact with the bubble. 4. The plurality of electric terminals are installed so that the bubbles moving with the inclination of the closed container come into contact with any one of the conductive portions of the plurality of electric terminals.
The tilt sensor according to claim 2. 5. The closed container has a hemispherical shape at its top, and the hemispheres are spaced by a predetermined distance such that the conductive portions of the plurality of electric terminals come into contact with the bubbles moving on the inner wall of the hemisphere. The inclination detection sensor according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of electric terminals are arranged in a plane shape at substantially equal intervals apart from the inner wall. 6. The closed container has a spherical shape at the top thereof, and the conductive portions of the plurality of electric terminals are separated from each other by a predetermined distance such that the conductive portions contact the bubbles moving on the spherical inner wall. The tilt detection sensor according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of electric terminals are installed along an inner peripheral side wall surface of the closed container at intervals. 7. The inclination detection sensor according to claim 1, wherein the electric terminal is installed upward from a bottom surface of the closed container. 8. The tilt sensor according to claim 1, wherein the electric terminal is installed downward from the top of the closed container. 9. The electric terminal, except for the conductive portion,
The tilt sensor according to any one of claims 1 to 8, which is formed so as to be electrically isolated from the conductive liquid by an insulating coating.